During the period 1992-2012 the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation catalyzed significant changes in the undergraduate educational efforts by faculty in the chemistry community through major expansions of the programs that it supported. Over the two decades, the disciplinary programs supported by the division evolved from an early emphasis on instrumentation and content to a broader focus that included content, pedagogy, cyber applications, assessment, education research, and evaluation. The Chemistry Initiative, a systemic effort launched in 1994, proved to be a significant factor in expanding and connecting the faculty in the undergraduate chemistry education community. In addition, during the period 1992-2012 a number of broader-based programs were established that led chemists to become involved in efforts to prepare future K-12 teachers, promote improvement in advanced technological education at community colleges, create and collect quality education materials in online collections, and increase the number of undergraduates receiving science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees. A unique large-scale project strengthened traditional graduate student training at major research institutions by encouraging these future STEM faculty to receive significant experience with educational issues.

Proposals submitted by chemistry departments to the Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) Program at NSF over the past five years have been analyzed to explore whether there have been changes in the percentage of proposals requesting an instrument or the types of instruments requested. We have also conducted a 10-year comparison of the Instrument and Laboratory Improvement Program for 1996−1998 versus the CCLI Program data for 2006−2009.